US+mosque+seizures+attacked+-+The+National+Newspaper

US mosque seizures attacked - The National Newspaper

WASHINGTON // Already facing a potential backlash from the recent shooting rampage in Texas by a Muslim military psychatrist, Islamic leaders say they are concerned that tensions could escalate further after federal prosecutors took steps to seize assets – including mosques and Islamic schools – owned by a non-profit group with alleged ties to the Iranian government.

A New York district attorney filed papers last week seeking the forfeiture of properties belonging to the Alavi Foundation, claiming the group was secretly working for the Iranian regime and illegally transferring funds to Iranian banks. The properties include the Piaget building, a 36-storey skyscraper in New York, and Islamic centres and mosques in Maryland, Texas and California.

The justice department stressed in a statement that prosecutors were not targeting mosques or those who pray in them.

“There are no allegations of any wrongdoing on the part of any of these tenants or occupants,” the statement said.

Still, Ibrahim Hooper, the spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), said the probe could further inflame anti-Muslim sentiment at a time when it was already heightened because of the shootings at Fort Hood, where Major Nidal Malik Hasan, a man of Palestinian descent who was reported to have referred to himself as a “soldier of Allah”, killed 13 people this month.

“The timing of the government move really couldn’t be worse,” Mr Hooper said, noting that although CAIR often received threats of violence, the number of such threats had increased substantially since the Fort Hood killings.

“There’s a feeling that every day something negative is happening that is related to Islam and Muslims,” added Salam al Marayti, the executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, who nevertheless praised US government officials for frequently emphasising that no one is targeting Islam. Mr al Marayati said his group has also seen a spike in death threats.

Calls to the Islamic Education Center in Potomac, Maryland, which is among the sites targeted by prosecutors, were not returned. The Islamic Education Center of Houston, Texas, another targeted site, said in a recorded statement on its phone lines that the centre, including its private Islamic school, would continue to operate as normal.

If there is a major backlash, for now, it is not occurring on the same scale that it did after the September 11 attacks, when hate crimes against Muslims surged to record highs and some, including a Sikh man who was mistaken for a Muslim, were killed. But the string of unflattering headlines tied to Islam and stepped-up anti-Islamic rhetoric, particularly from right-wing conservative talk-show hosts and bloggers, has at the very least raised the spectre that such an atmosphere could return.

On a programme last week, Rush Limbaugh, the controversial radio personality known for his inflammatory remarks, criticised Barack Obama, the US president, for referring to Major Hasan and other Muslims who turn to violence as “extremists”. “They are not extremists. They are mainstream in their sect of Islam,” Mr Limbaugh said. “There are hundreds of millions of them.”

Bryan Fischer, the director of issues analysis at the American Family Association, an ultra-conservative Christian group that usually targets gays and lesbians, wrote this month on the group’s blog that all Muslims should be barred from joining the US military.

“The more devout a Muslim is, the more of a threat he is to national security,” Mr Fischer wrote. “As soon as Muslims give us a foolproof way to identify their jihadis from their moderates, we’ll go back to allowing them to serve.”

For Muslim-Americans, such rhetoric stings even more now that Mr Obama, the son of a Muslim man, occupies the White House. Many hoped that Mr Obama, who has sought new ways to engage Muslims abroad, would also usher in a new era of tolerance at home.

“Unfortunately,” Mr Hooper of CAIR said, “a lot of that hope has gone by the wayside.”

sstanek@thenational.ae